newbie

Welcome! :)I saw your pieces on etsy. You are already developing a style of your own! Nice.

Try to find some stainless steel jeweler's shot. I also use plastic pellets for cushioning.

You can hammer wire to harden it, too, but I don't know what you are referring to with the acid. If you are referring to annealing with a flame- that softens, it doesn't harden. After annealing you have to pickle with an acid bath to remove the firescale.

Can't wait to see some more of your jewelry.

It depends on what you are doing with the wire and what kind of wire it is. If I want to harden bail wires, I hit them with a hammer. If someone wants to harden soft, coated wire, you would hit them with a nylon or rubber mallet/hammer. But, just working the wire hardens it, too. So will twisting it. I don't know any wire wrappers that heat their wire in an oven first unless it is maybe argentium silver, but that's different. What kind of wire are you using?

Any clue on a way to twist wire without those tools they sell at micheals??

If you don't want to do that, you can use a pin vise. That's what I do. I like to use a pinvise because I only do short lengths at a time and I can twist 2 wires equally for the same pattern on each wire.

The chuck (three prongs) on some drills will close tight enough to hold the wire firmly, and some don't. Try to feed wire about 1/4 inch into the chuck and tighten. If it doesn't grip the wire, easy fix. Put a 90 degree bend into the last 1/4 inch of your wire and try again, this time with the bend sticking through two of the three prongs and the long part of the wire centered with the chunk. Once the wire is secured in the chuck, hold the other end of the wire with a pair of pliers. Squeeze the pliers so that the wire does not slip and twist in the jaws of the pliers and pull the trigger. Hold the trigger until your satisfied with the twists.

Thank you so Much..